The present invention is related to crisper drawers and more specifically to a double crisper drawer for use in a refrigerator.
Crisper drawers are well known in the art, which are provided in a bottom portion of a refrigerator for storing fresh fruits and vegetables. Normally, a crisper drawer comprises a slidable compartment for storing the fresh fruits and vegetables and a removable cover that is located on the upper part of the compartment. The removable cover is attached on supports in the form of slots or ribs, which are integrally molded within each side wall of a refrigerator liner. The removable cover is made of tempered glass, which also acts as a shelf for additionally support other items that are being refrigerated.
However one of the disadvantages of the previous art, is that the slidable compartment is used to store any type and size of fruits and vegetables, so that, when a smaller vegetables or fruits i.e. peppers, peas, garlics, string-beans, small-carrots, lemons, asparagus, etc. are required by the consumer, he need to remove all the bigger vegetables or fruits to extract the small pieces.
Different developments for storing food within the refrigerator have being carried out, for example, the U.S. Pat. No. 4,173,378 issued to Hanson, et al, on Nov. 6, 1979, is related to a removable sealed storage drawer and a support cover for installation in various locations in the refrigerator cabinet. In that arrangement, a supporting frame and cover panel assembly are adapted for slidably and sealingly supporting a food storage drawer in a generally airtight sealed environment for extended food storage.
The U.S. Pat. No. 4,729,613, issued to Ralph D. Tromble et al on Mar. 8, 1988, is related to a pan assembly for use in a household refrigerator fresh food compartment comprising a removable rigid unitary frame having two side plates secured within the fresh food compartment to support the frame, a front horizontal support member and a rear horizontal support member rigidly attached to and spanning the distance between the side plates. There are two pans of different widths and having an open top with outwardly depending flanges along the side walls at the top of the pans. Three slide members with horizontal channels receive the pan flanges and support the pans thereon. The slide carriers are supported on the rear and front support members of the frame and are slidable along and removable from the support members. A removable cover is supported on the front and rear support members of the frame above the slide carriers.
The U.S. Pat. No. 4,735,470 issued to Donald G. Falk on Apr. 5, 1988, is related to a refrigerator food storage compartment having a shelf assembly, including a pair of vertically extending laterally spaced rail members. A shelf is supported on a pair of horizontally extending arm members which are positioned on the rail members. Carried on the shelf assembly is a secondary food storage arrangement supporting a plurality of containers. The arm members include confronting grooves arranged below the shelf. Slidably arranged in the grooves is a container supporting frame which includes pairs of confronting flanges supporting the containers. Forward travel of the container supporting frame relative to the shelf assembly provides access to the containers. The front portion of the frame includes a front opening through which the containers may be removed while the container supporting frame remains positoned below the shelf.
The U.S. Pat. No. 5,437,503 issued to Phillip D. Baker et al on Aug. 1, 1995, is referred to a refrigerator food storage compartment having a shelf assembly, including a pair of vertically extending laterally spaced rail members. A shelf is supported on a pair of horizontally extending arm members which are positioned on the rail members. Carried on the shelf assembly is a secondary food storage arrangement supporting a plurality of containers. The arm members include confronting grooves arranged below the shelf. Slidably arranged in the grooves is a container supporting frame which includes pairs of confronting flanges supporting the containers. Forward travel of the container supporting frame relative to the shelf assembly provides access to the containers. The front portion of the frame includes a front opening through which the containers may be removed while the container supporting frame remains positoned below the shelf.
Finally, The U.S. Pat. No. 5,947,574 issued to Jose G. Avendano on Sep. 7, 1999, is related to a refrigerator shelving assembly includes a universal frame adapted to support various different shelving units thereon. The frame is defined by interconnected front, rear and side frame members, and preferably a pair of intersecting cross frame members. Each of the frame members, in at least an opposing pair of the front, rear and side frame members, is provided with a ledge portion located in a first plane and a trough portion arranged below the first plane at a position between the ledge portions and a respective cross frame member. Each of the cross frame members has an upper surface also located in the first plane. With this construction, the frame can universally support various types of shelving units, including a basic shelf constituted by a plate of glass or a premium shelf formed by encapsulating an annular portion of a plate of glass by a rim defining element that extends below a plane defined by the glass plate, upon the cross frame members and either the ledge or trough portions of the shelving assembly. Furthermore, the frame members can carry guide rails for slidably supporting one or more refrigerator bins below a selected shelving unit.
As can be seen of the previous art, such arrangements are related to food storage drawers for extend the food storage, and also are related to pan assemblies mounted in an unitary frame. However, they do not contain an additional compartment or tray conjointly with the main compartment, with the object of store smaller vegetables or fruits.
Moreover, certain types vegetables should be stored at a high relative humidity, while others such as fruit should not, so, with this invention, will be possible to separate some fruits and vegetables from the others with respect to size and humidity.
In accordance with the above the present invention is related to a double crisper drawer for a refrigerator, which allows the easy removal of smaller fruits and vegetables placed on a first tray located on the upper part of a lower crisper drawer. A supporting structure supports both first tray and lower crisper drawer in order that these can be independently slidable one of the other. So, the first tray and the lower crisper drawer can be independently removed, when the front door of the refrigerator is opened, thereby providing to the user access independently to smaller fruits or vegetables or a larger fruits or vegetables.
A first objective of the present invention is to provide a double crisper drawer for a refrigerator, which includes a first slidable tray for the storage of smaller fruits or vegetables.
Is other objective of the present invention, to provide a double crisper drawer for a refrigerator, which contains a lower crisper drawer for storing larger fruits or vegetables.
Another objective of the present invention, is to provide a double crisper drawer for a refrigerator, which is placed on a supporting structure that is attached on supports in the form of slots or ribs, which are integrally molded within each side wall of a refrigerator liner.
An additional objective of the present invention is to provide a double crisper drawer for a refrigerator, wherein the upper part of said supporting structure also acts as an additional support for other items that is being refrigerated.
These and other objectives and additional advantages of the present invention will be made evident to experts in the field in the following detailed description of the invention, which will make reference to a specific embodiment of the invention in an illustrative, but not limiting sense.